Produced By - #24 - Zeke Downes: Runner, Logger And Football Lover On A Journey To Become A TV Cinematographer

Starting point is 00:00:04 Zeke Downs is a runner and logger from London, who loves sports, especially football, and is currently working as a runner on an undisclosed television production. Originally from Norwich, Zeek relocated to London to attend university and follow his interest in TV dramas and documentaries. We talked about what it was like to pursue degree in television, why he picked this program over the one in film and specifics about his university projects. While still in school, he had the opportunity to work as a logger at Windrennan and he put a program as a lawyer at Winderenen and he picked this program. proceeded to do so on a number of other projects, as well as a few sporting events as a runner. In addition, we discussed Zieg's deep interest in sports, particularly football, including his favorite teams, players and his biggest hobby collecting football shirts. There's also this episode to discover more about Zieg's logging job, find out why he traveled

Starting point is 00:00:54 to Wales for his final university project and get inspired about his profound passion for collecting football jerseys. Enjoy it. Hello Zicke! Thank you for joining us today and welcome to the show. Hello, yeah, thank you very much for asking me on. Can you please introduce yourself? Yes, so my name is Zeke Downs.

Starting point is 00:01:18 I graduated from Middle Sex University last year, so 2022, and I have been in the TV industry ever since then. So did you study TV or film? I studied TV. How was it? Because I come from film, so I've got no idea what is it. like to study TV? Can you give us a little introduction? Yeah, I think there were lots of the other TV students that wanted to actually study film instead,

Starting point is 00:01:48 but it was a really popular course. So I think lots of them then had to do TV instead of that. Whereas I wasn't like that. I always wanted to be doing TV. And yeah, I really liked it. There was a lot of of practical stuff in the studio where we could use all sorts of different cameras and lighting and all that sort of stuff but the issue was half of my time there was when COVID happened so we missed out on a lot of stuff

Starting point is 00:02:26 which looking back now is really annoying but you know that's just how it happened what year were in when COVID happened I was going into second year. Yeah. So how did the force change during the COVID? I guess it was remote, but what did you do instead of working practically? Yeah, so almost all of it was online.

Starting point is 00:02:54 So we were doing lectures online, but that was about it. And normally we would have had two days in the studio every week. and obviously you're also making your own, say, documentaries, dramas. So we weren't able to actually do that until it was a little bit safer later on. So when we got into third year, it was a bit better. We were able to then come in more. That was then a year afterwards. It was a little bit easier that way.

Starting point is 00:03:30 And we were able to then do some bits, but not as much as we. we'd have liked. Yeah, it wasn't really very nice. Can you introduce a bit the course itself? Because I'm curious, what were, for example, some subjects that you studied when it comes to TV? Yeah, so the actual degree was television and digital production. So we're sort of studying a range of different things, different genres. So drama, documentary, reality, entertainment, and, studio. So it was then broken down into different modules. And then there was another module which was about getting into the industry and how all of that bit works. Yeah. So the studio was more practical sort of aspect of it. And we would make our own studio productions where we did game shows. There was a

Starting point is 00:04:29 dating and a music one, which I love doing those. I think that was probably my favorite parts of the course. Yeah, and then that was basically what it is. And then obviously you've got the modules where you're writing essays about things and all that stuff. But yeah. And do you also get to pick what you specialize in or how does it work with that? Yeah, so when we got to third year, we could choose whether we were.

Starting point is 00:04:59 wanted to do drama and documentary or commercials and I wanted to do drama and documentary. But yes, we then sort of split in half. Yeah. So what was it that interested you specifically in drama and documentary? Well, I am very into cameras. And when I went to uni in the first place, it was as I wanted to do documentary. sort of David Attenborough style. So that was what I'd sort of had my mind on that whole time I was there.

Starting point is 00:05:39 And yeah, I just loved that with sort of documentary stuff, it's like every day is sort of different. And it isn't like there's a script and you have to learn the scripts and whatever. Like each story and each narrative is always going to be different. So when I was making my own projects, they were mainly. documentaries. Yeah. So out of curiosity, why did you pick TV course instead of film on? Because you can focus on documentary there as well. I don't know, actually. That is a very good question. But I think it was that I didn't want to sort of narrow it down to just documentaries as I also love sport and drama and also like reality and entertainment as well. I like the fact that I could

Starting point is 00:06:28 choose and I could learn about all of them and then later on I could then sort of narrow it down and I just felt like PV was probably better in that way. So did you during the course of your education stick with the goal of focusing on documentaries or did it change by the end? It was mainly documentaries but what sort of changed it for me was that I got a job in 2021. so the year before I actually left and that was in sport and we weren't really taught very much about sport and I didn't really see that as a viable option but when I was actually working there doing it I loved it as sort of sport is my number one like thing so the fact that I could do that it sort of opened up more doors and after that I have done a lot more sport

Starting point is 00:07:28 I haven't actually done any documentaries. I'm still not closed off. I feel like maybe in the future I'd like to, but it seems quite hard genre to get into. But I think later on, I would like to. Before discussing more about the sport and your job, I wonder what were the university project, like were you making documentaries as, for example, final project?

Starting point is 00:07:55 Or what did you do? Yeah, so if we're looking at just final year, group of us, I think it was about four or five of us, did this documentary about a guy who is a bus driver, but also likes football shirts. Sorry, was it fictional or actually someone real? No, it's actually real. Yeah, because I actually knew him already. And I thought that it would be an interesting sort of narrative. So we did that one as the sort of piece at the start of the year. And then for the final one, we went to Wales and we did this documentary about red kites

Starting point is 00:08:38 and them sort of breeding and getting reintroduced into the wild. So two quite different documentaries. But I wanted to sort of try different things and obviously make the most of being there. How long were they? Was it like 10 minutes or even longer? Yeah, so the first one was five minutes, I think. And then the Red Kite documentary was about 12.

Starting point is 00:09:10 But I'm not sure what it was like in terms of film because a lot of ours were five minutes and less, except for the last one. But I don't know what it was like with the year in that were yours longer or, were they? We had short films in the third year. I believe it was 10 minutes.

Starting point is 00:09:30 I don't want to lie, but I would say probably also around 10. So how was the result in the end, the one with Red Kite? It was really good. Yeah, it was hard work because obviously when you've got to get interviewees, we were struggling with that. But we did manage the end. We went to two different places that sort of did it slightly differently. they had different ways of actually looking at it,

Starting point is 00:09:56 which did offer two really good points of view of those. And there were times when we had to be really close with the actual birds, which makes it quite hard because obviously you're not sure what they're really going to do. And there were times when they were getting a little bit crazy, but it all just sort of made it even more exciting. I can imagine that doing the risk assessment must be fun. Yeah, we did have to do a long one of those. It did take a while because, obviously,

Starting point is 00:10:29 you have to really think about every single little thing, then, you and like all of the different possibilities. And we did leave there and there were no issues. Yeah, it was all good. And why would you do actually the commentary about such a topic in the first place? I can't really remember why. But I think it was mainly that two of us in our group were really into David Attenborough documentaries. And we'd sort of had this planned all the way through our sort of time there.

Starting point is 00:11:03 And we were then looking at all of the different ideas online because there were things like wolves in, I think it was Scotland, beavers, loads of different animals. and we just sort of thought that that one would work the best. It's a really nice landscape as well. So we also had a drone that was really nice as obviously we could then do it over the valley. And yeah, I think it was the best out of all of the options after we were there looking through all of the different options for ages, hours and we worked out that one was probably our.

Starting point is 00:11:46 nest. Yeah. And did you then send it to any festivals? So we were chosen to do a screening at the BSI, which we did do. And we were the only TV group there. But like we didn't put it forward for any other sort of festivals. Yeah, it's that because like we didn't exactly have much of budget. It was hard to make it really good and all of the other films on there. And We're really, really good. It's really hard. Yeah, but it sounds like an exciting project. Yeah, it was.

Starting point is 00:12:23 Yeah, so coming back to your first job, as you said, you worked in a sport. Can you tell us more about the job, what we're actually doing? Yeah, so I was doing logging. I'm not sure whether you know about logging. Can you please introduce it for people who don't know? Yes, so logging was what I was actually doing at, Wimbledon and logging is basically typing down everything that is actually happening on the screen. So it's more down the lines of editing and it's basically to help the editor's life to be easier.

Starting point is 00:13:01 And we were there watching the live matches and then what we were logging was then being used for the highlights. So we would basically rate everything and write down who were. was playing in the game, what shop they did, give it a rating out of five, all of these different things. And it was quite hard because it was live. I had to be on it that whole time. And it was obviously my very first TV job. So the first two or three days, I hated it. It was horrible, as I didn't have a clue what I was actually doing. And everyone else there had. I'd already been there and done it for two or three years. But then after the first two or three days, I loved it.

Starting point is 00:13:55 And I was there for the two weeks doing that. And that was then what helped me. When I then graduated, that was what then got me the jobs. So just trying to imagine how does it work. Are you actually somewhere near the court by the laptop and riding? Or what is it like? It's actually that. Yes, we were in our own pods and we'd have two screens.

Starting point is 00:14:21 One would be where you're logging onto and it's software called IP Director. And then next year you would have the live feed. And that was live transmitted from the actual cameras. As it was happening, we were then logging it down. And then after the match, we'd then email it off to the director and make a list of all of the best shots in the game and all that sort of stuff. So are you basically trying to get as much information as possible or trying to pick what you consider to be important?

Starting point is 00:14:58 You actually have to write absolutely everything. Don't even stop riding. Near enough, yeah. And matches can last between one hour, three hours, four hours. So if you're one of the more experienced ones, they will then give you the harder games, so like the actual final. And that is normally, because you've got two really good players, that then normally lasts even longer. You've then got to be there for probably four hours odd and hyping nonstop.

Starting point is 00:15:37 And afterwards, you're just exhausted because you're typing there the whole time. But yeah, I love it though. Yeah, I'm trying to imagine, I'm not going to lie, I didn't really know that there is a job like this. No, I mean, no one really does. I do have to sort of explain it to everyone because one realizes that it's actually a thing. Because we weren't taught about it at all. I didn't really know what it was until I then did it. But I wonder if you write basically everything.

Starting point is 00:16:09 Isn't it then too much information to process to go through? wouldn't it be more efficient I understand it's difficult but to pick maybe the highlights or what is the most important yeah I would think that yes but they just wanted absolutely everything

Starting point is 00:16:26 as they don't know how long each highlight will actually be and you don't know what's really going to happen in that match as it is live it isn't like you can look through this recorded clip already and loggers have to log everything

Starting point is 00:16:42 and also like the actual time codes of them, every single thing you have to write it all in and then the editor knows exactly where everything is. How did you find such a job? Well, it was sort of a bit lucky. I also like football and I noticed that there was a lady on Twitter who in her bio had that she'd worked at various different sporting events like the Olympics and the World Cup and all these different things.

Starting point is 00:17:16 And I basically messaged her thinking that she wouldn't answer or wouldn't really, you know, give me anything. She was really, really nice. And then a few months later, I then got another message off her and she offered me that. So it was a mixture of luck and a mixture of if you don't ask, you don't get in a way. And when you got this offer, did you know what is this job? No. When I was offered it, I had a mixture of excitement and, you know, fear.

Starting point is 00:17:52 I didn't have a clear what it was. But I did then research it. Not that that really helped me. But yeah, it was a sort of learn on the job thing, which I wasn't really expecting. And also, I don't know if you remember we had these. app, government app, and it was around COVID, when if you were in sort of like contact with anyone who had COVID, it then pinged and you then had to isolate. So I got that ping just over a week before I was then due to start.

Starting point is 00:18:32 So I ended up missing the training day and the first day. So I was already really behind and then I was even more behind. So it wasn't the ideal start to my first TV job, but I learned a lot. I really did. And did you somehow have to prove your typing skills? Because I can imagine they should somehow check so that you type actually fast. Yeah, I was expecting to, but I didn't. I have done for every other logging job, but not with that one, weirdly.

Starting point is 00:19:12 You do have to be able to type pretty fast as you have to sort of keep up with the live. And on the first day or two, I was about 15, 20 minutes off the live. And that was quite terrifying. But then I sort of like built my way up in a way where I ended up on. the live in the last week and it was all okay but yeah you do have to be able to log quite yeah quickly and how long you spent in that job so it was just for the whole tournament so it was two weeks and that was as i say july 2021 and then i obviously went back and did my third year i then didn't have any other jobs until I then left. So that was then a year later when I then logged for

Starting point is 00:20:13 hunted. I don't know if you've had about hunted. Is it like some TV series or TV show? Yeah, it is. Yeah. It is quite popular here. And it's where this group of hunters hunt down people. and they then have to stay hidden for two weeks, I think it is, and then if they do, they then win loads of money. And are we doing the same thing as a logger there? Yeah, so I was also logging there, but it wasn't live, obviously. So it was slightly different, it was easier, but with that we had two different logger teams.

Starting point is 00:20:53 One team would be logging the hunters, and the other team will be logging the hunties. and I was doing the hunters. So basically when they were being interviewed or when they were looking for evidence or all these different things, I was logging what they were then talking about. So did you do this again because you enjoyed it,

Starting point is 00:21:17 being a logger? No, so I'd actually had applied for the runner job with this company. And they'd basically looked at the fact that I'd already logged. And they then called me up and they then said, we can't offer you the runner job because you don't have any running experience yet. But because you have done logging, we're also doing hunted.

Starting point is 00:21:44 So would you like to be doing that? And at that point, I was happy to just do anything. But I did love it and I was on that. I did the normal hunted and then I did the celebrity hunted as well, which aired on TV very recently actually, which was really interesting to actually watch it because I already knew what was happening, obviously. So it was really hard because I already knew who was going to win.

Starting point is 00:22:11 Yeah, I can imagine. So did you enjoy the job on it? Yes, it was good. It was quite hard. You had to do a lot of logging, but it didn't have as much pressure on it as it wasn't live. And then doing that sort of made me really, realized that I didn't want to really do very much reality TV

Starting point is 00:22:32 because it made me realize that reality TV is not very real. Spoiler alert. It's quite scripted. And I didn't really realize that until I was doing it. And now it may look at all sorts of reality TV and it makes me think, oh, that's probably not real. Yeah, I think that may disappoint some of, our listeners.

Starting point is 00:22:58 I was just going to say that before you said that they didn't accept you into runner position because you didn't have experience. How are you supposed to get experience if you cannot get the job without experience? Exactly that. Yeah, that is what then happened with me most of the time. I was applying for lots of runner jobs and they all then told me you need to have at least one runner credit. But how do you get that one credit?

Starting point is 00:23:26 if you don't give them the work. It's just, you know. Yeah, it's like endless loop. Yeah. So what did you do after that? After this job you did? So that ended in August of last year, 2022. And I was away in Scotland for a week.

Starting point is 00:23:47 And I got notified about another logger job. And I then applied and within minutes, They then emailed back and they offered it to me on the basis that the actual software they were using Blackbird was what I had already used for hunted. It was easy in their minds to know that I already knew what was going to happen and how it all actually worked. And that was for Discovery Channel program called Gold Rush, American gold mining. sort of reality documentary style thing. And that was a hard. In terms of job security,

Starting point is 00:24:34 it was really good in that I then had months' worth of this work. That then took me up until November. So that was about three months' work. And it was good, but that and Hunted were both working from home. And it was good, but it's not the sort of program that I, watch. It was quite hard because the audio was difficult to really understand and they've got quite strong American accents and I was really having to listen to actually understand. But yeah, so I was then working until that point and they then had this spin-off program called Parker's Trail,

Starting point is 00:25:20 which is in the sixth series now. And they asked me if I could, do that. So I then did that from November until the end of January. That was like that, but it was more location-based, like they were exploring and trying to find areas they could mine in. So I was quite lucky in that I was basically working non-stop from June until February. Just a quick one. If you enjoy our podcast, please give us a review on your favorite podcast app, subscribe or share it with your friends. For more information, visit the show notes. Thank you and back to the show.

Starting point is 00:26:01 So what was the next project you did after the last one? So after Parker's Trail, that ended at the end of January. And then I found it quite hard as the TV industry had dried up a bit and all of the programs had mainly already been filmed by that point. So I wasn't able to really find any work and I had a dry period of about two and a half months, which was very difficult to handle really in that I hadn't had that before and I didn't know really what to do because I was applying for loads of jobs, lots of runner jobs. Nothing was really happening. But I just kept on applying every single day and hope that something would do.

Starting point is 00:26:54 then pop up. But what I didn't actually mention, I'd left out a load of stuff. I don't know how. So I did do other jobs in that time as I had got contacted by a sports company and they were doing the NFL and I was asked if I could be their runner. So this was my very first runner job. I can't remember when this was. I think it was August time. Yeah, so I was doing their live studio show. And the NFL isn't really something that I enjoy. It's not a sport that I like, but it was a really good experience. And it then meant that I was on that company's books and they then offered me other work after that. So I was then asked to go to Munich with them and do their actual NFL match there. So I was there for a week doing that, which was a really, really awesome experience

Starting point is 00:28:01 and completely different to logging. And it sort of made me think I would much rather do running than I would logging. And I also then did boxing with them as well at the end of the year. So I think that was December. So I did have those in the bank as well. But that's sort of when I was expecting I will get jobs around February March time, but still nothing then came, which was hard. But I was basically contacting everyone, emailing and whatever, but there was just nothing around. But then with the sports company, they were doing this thing called boat race, which is basically Oxford versus Cambridge, and they then race against each other. And that was in March. And near me it was about five days i think it was in the end another really good experience yeah and then

Starting point is 00:29:00 after that i'd got another job lined up which i'm doing now it's a long job and it takes me right up until the end of november and i already had that booked in but it was that i didn't have anything in between but i also got contacted about doing the world snooker championship which I did about a month ago, and that was three weeks of nonstop work, that was logging again. So I have sort of managed to do a bit of logging, a bit of running here and there and combine it all, which makes it all quite interesting. And is there one you enjoy more? Is it running, as you said, or what do you prefer to do?

Starting point is 00:29:47 I think before I did the snooker, I would have said running easily. But it was a different type of logging for the snooker where I was doing the pre and post match interviews. And it was a lot more enjoyable. It wasn't as long a day. It was every day was different. And I was there not working from home that whole time I was going into the office. And it sort of made it all a little bit more enjoyable. I really, really loved it.

Starting point is 00:30:21 and when it stopped, it was quite annoying, but that's just how it is, and then you have to move on to the next one. And the job you got now, is it as a runner or as a logger? Logger. It's weekdays, so I get weekends off, which is quite good, every single week until November. So once, let's say, project finishes,

Starting point is 00:30:45 does then the company offer a new one, or you need to wait when something shows up, or you are free and you need to look for something by yourself? Or how does it work? It basically could be any of those, really. Like the companies that I have already worked for, they have liked me and they've then offered me other jobs. But it all depends on what's coming up and what's actually happening.

Starting point is 00:31:11 But it's not normally a full-time job. It's always contracts. But yeah, most of these jobs, I've got, because of doing the other jobs and then I'm offered these jobs. Yeah. And what are your plans for the future? What do you want to focus on or where do you see yourself in a few years? Well, that's a hard one.

Starting point is 00:31:34 I mean, I've got an idea of where I want to be. I just don't know how long it will take me and the route that I need to go down. But I would love to be a camera operator for sporting events, impressively football but I know it's hard it's not a very easy route but I think the fact that I've got lots of good running credits now is only going to help me and the actual company that I am doing them with they are really good at helping other people build up and get more experience and all that sort of thing so I don't know how long it will take me but I'm hoping in the five years I will have been a camera assistant and made my way and hopefully doing sporting events

Starting point is 00:32:27 like that. Would it be like for Premier League? Yeah, I would love that, yeah. And hopefully that will end up happening. But, you know. Yeah, that's what's exciting and fingers crossed. Can you share us some lessons from your experience as a runner and a logger in industry? what would you advise to people or students, for starters? Yeah, so I mean, if I was addressing students, it would be that there's always luck involved, but you often have to make your own luck because people don't need to help you. You sort of need to help yourself in a way. And you need to be actively looking for lots of different jobs.

Starting point is 00:33:14 you need to be contacting various different companies, applying for everything. And once you get that initial job, you then should be okay. But it's just that first one is very hard to get. Because as we've already mentioned, if you don't have experience, no one wants you, but you can't get experience. And just work hard. And like if you're working in a job, always ask them, any different question if you have any as they do seem to like that if you have any problems or

Starting point is 00:33:53 whatever they would much rather you honest about them and you asked about them early on because then you can then avoid them and you can you know then work it out afterwards and i think that's what employers like they want their life to be made easier so you are there to make their life easier. So if you're making their life harder, they probably won't really want you back. So you have to basically just work really hard, be honest with them,

Starting point is 00:34:25 and hopefully it will all work out. Yeah, great advice. I can only agree with that. So as a fan of football, out of curiosity, what is your favorite team? Norwich, have you heard of Norwich? I have not.

Starting point is 00:34:41 Yeah, lots of people haven't heard of Norwich, but why is there? Well, we're not a bad team. We are often in the Premier League. We were in it last season and we are often there, but we're not quite good enough to stay in it. We do get relegated, but then we then come back up again. So, yeah, we are one of those teams that are yo-yo clubs up and down and up and down.

Starting point is 00:35:09 But I've always loved it. I've been a Norwich supporter since. I was about six and I'd been to hundreds of games and I love it. Why this team? So I am originally from Norwich and I always lived there until I moved to London for uni and then I've stayed around London really. And if I'm not mistaken, are you also a collector of football dresses? Yes, I am, yes.

Starting point is 00:35:38 Do you want to tell us more about it? I can do, yeah. So that all started in lockdown, really, because I've always loved them. I've always had them. And I noticed there were lots of other people who also enjoyed them and also collected them. So it was around lockdown when COVID happened and everyone had lots of free time. Everyone was bored. And I went online and I was doing all this stuff and I looked and was talking to all sorts of other people about. it and it's sort of grown ever since then and I've now got a lot probably too many.

Starting point is 00:36:19 Say the number. So I don't know the exact number. I've got probably about 160, 165. And yeah, when I do tell family and sort of friends about that, they are a bit surprised. I've got as many as that and they think that I'm a little bit weird. but I love it and and it is a really good way of sort of chatting to like-minded people and I've had all sorts of different opportunities through that and done social media stuff and brand marketing and all that sort of thing so it's been really good and I do love it and it's a really good thing to have as well

Starting point is 00:37:04 as doing TV as they're both very creative and it's just awesome. to combine different hobbies because I love football I love photography, camera work, media, everything. So it is awesome to just combine everything. Yeah, I wonder, not that I would want to ask you so that someone robs you, but where do you keep so many dresses? Yeah, so most other collectors struggle with actually storing them, understandably when you've got hundreds of them. But in my current place and my previous place, I have been lucky and I've had big spare wardrobe. And my girlfriend has never been too keen about me having all of them. And she always goes in there and she just basically tells me you need to sell after these. And I say,

Starting point is 00:38:03 no, never. Yeah, so I just open up the wardrobe and I pick which one I want to wear. and yeah. Yeah, you can wear like a half a year each day different one. Yeah, exactly, yeah. And also when I'm working from home, which has been lost recently, I can wear one every day. I love it. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:38:24 So how do you pick which one do you buy next? So at the start, I was happy to buy anything. And I would look online. There's all sorts of different websites or there's eBay and depop and all those sort of things. and I would buy anything that was in a large. And now I'm at the stage where I'm a bit more picky with it. And I love ones that are unique. I love ones that are bright and have a weird pattern on them.

Starting point is 00:38:58 Like pink ones, I love them. And also Norwich ones, that's mainly what I am collecting, is that I have made it my goal that, every single Norwich kit from 1992 until now I need it. So I've got 13 left. I've managed to get all of them from every year. I think it won about 80. But it's quite an expensive hobby,

Starting point is 00:39:28 but they hold their value as well. So if I ever needed to, I could then get that money back. Yeah, it's like someone invests in. gold or stocks you put it into this exactly yeah exactly this may be a silly question but do you try to get one that is actually from the player or is it official merchandise or which one yeah so um it's a mixture normally it's just the standard one that's from the actual club and not worn by anyone or anything like that but there are times when I have bought match worn shirts which then cost a little bit more but I do have four or five Norwich ones and I've got my eye on other ones from my favourite players

Starting point is 00:40:23 but they are quite expensive and they're hard to find but I love hunting I love the fact that like I've got to spend ages looking for it online and maybe one day I actually actually buy it. Yeah. If you don't mind saying that, would it's maybe the most expensive one that you bought? So I've got two or three. I think it's three that I spent 150 pounds on each. And I don't know whether you think that's expensive or not, but it's hard because obviously as a hobby, it's quite an expensive hobby. But I've spent a lot less than a lot of other people that I know. So, another guy that I know has got 650 match-worn Norwich kits and the value of them individually about 150 each so you're looking at about 100,000 pounds on Juff football kits. Yeah, that is crazy.

Starting point is 00:41:26 It's definitely crazy. And is there a big community of people like you who collect, let's say, dresses or even? and stuff related to football. Yeah, yeah, it's actually massive. I didn't really expect it, but there's thousands and thousands of us and all over the internet, be that Twitter for the people who like to talk about them

Starting point is 00:41:50 or Instagram for people like me who loves to photograph them and wear them and take photos outside in them and all that sort of stuff. And are there some highlights from, a collection, maybe some dress that you are proud of. I guess that will be probably some from your favorite team, but maybe even from a player or something. Yeah, I think the best one that I've got is a match worn Max Aaron's shirt, which is a Norwich player now. He's been a Norwich player

Starting point is 00:42:26 for his whole life. I basically found a shirt that had his name on the back, but it had two granddad on the front and it was then signed by him and I I then bought that thinking it was nothing special and then when it then turned up it then had this letter attached and it was written by Leslie Arons which then turned out was Max Arons's auntie and I then tweeted him thinking that he might want this back and he then messaged me within a minute and I was really really happy that I had actually tweeted that and he then arranged that we could meet and he would then give me one of his in return for that so I got ticket to two of the Norwich matches I met him I got his matchworn shirt, I met all of the other players, got pictures with everyone, got them to sign different things.

Starting point is 00:43:38 So that's probably my prized possession because money can't buy that. It is a memory that I'll always have and it's unique. Yeah, that sounds like a beautiful gesture. So I don't know if you mentioned it before, but who's your favorite player? So overall, my favorite player is Lionel Messi. and in terms of Norwich I've always liked players that are like him so players like Wes Houlihan and

Starting point is 00:44:08 Emmy Buendia and more recently pokey but there's not too many right now and my overall favorite Norwich player has always been Wes Hu Lahan yeah and when I checked before your website or some links about your collection Do you also have some kind of business with these t-shirts, or is it just your social media presents? So I used to buy and sell them as well as buying them for my own collection.

Starting point is 00:44:43 It was during lockdown, that was what helped me buy my own collection in a way, is that for all of the profits I was then making, I could then buy one that I then really wanted. So it was a way of not spending the money that I had to spend in order to then buy all of them. And that has really helped me. I don't have the time now to be doing that. So it's mainly now just talking about them. I've been on all sorts of different podcasts and videos talking about them. Yeah, and it's Twitter, Instagram, taking pictures of them.

Starting point is 00:45:25 doing videos and doing brand stuff. So I work with quite a few different companies and do different promotions for them. Yeah, so it's various different things, really. Yeah, because I had the look and the social media presents, looks really nice, makes a good impression. So I can recommend to listeners to have a look. Thank you very much, thank you.

Starting point is 00:45:50 And is there something you would like to add when it comes to television? For me, it's very interesting topic because, as I said, I studied film, so I don't really know or I'm curious or interested to hear what was it like to study actually television. But is there something you would like to add or something that you feel like that I should have asked and I did not? I'm not sure. I think you asked a lot of really good questions. I don't know what I can add. What about some other favorite documentary filmmakers besides David Attenborough?

Starting point is 00:46:24 Well, I'm really bad with names. I don't know too many filmmakers or directors or anything. And specific documentaries, something that you like for some reason? I mean, it's basically all of his, I think. Besides him. No, I mean, honestly, I don't really watch too many documentaries. I watch a lot of drama. I watch a lot of reality and I watch a lot of sport.

Starting point is 00:46:51 but it was more down to the side that I found it really interesting how long these sort of documentaries take to make and how technical all of it is and I always watched the end of each episode. They always had a more technical aspect where you got to know more about how that all actually happened and the whole sort of filming process in a way. And that was always what really, really interested me. Yeah, because I always only wanted to do camera work. I didn't want to be doing anything else. I don't have any interest in doing, directing, producing.

Starting point is 00:47:33 Whereas most of the other people on my course, they had other ideas. They wanted to do directing and all sorts of different things, but not many people wanted to do camera work, which I found really interesting. I was expecting more, but yeah, people just weren't really as technical. They were more down the side of production. And out of curiosity, how many people were in your class? Probably not as many as you would have had. I feel like film was a lot more popular.

Starting point is 00:48:05 We ended third year with about, I think it was 30. Yeah. Zick, before we finish, do you want to promote yourself and say where people can follow you? Yeah, so if I go for the more football side, I'm on Twitter at Knockham Downs and on Instagram at Freshirts UK. And based that's more what I am doing. I do also have a photography Instagram, which is Ezekiel James photography. And I try to pose regularly on there and take a lot of photos. but yeah I think also on LinkedIn obviously I'm quite new to that I didn't join

Starting point is 00:48:51 LinkedIn until a couple of months ago so I'm trying to make new connections and chat to various different people so yeah I'm on that I will get the links and add them to the show notes if someone wanted to follow you yeah Zik thank you very much it was a fun chat as I said, I'm not a big fan of football, but I enjoy talking about it. I found it really interesting and it's really cool that you've got such a hobby. Yeah, thank you very much for asking me on. It's always interesting to chat about the sort of TV and film industry. I don't get to talk about it too much as it's just work, isn't it?

Starting point is 00:49:31 And it is interesting to speak to another person who understands how it is and knows what it's like to move into the industry. and actually work in it. But also to talk about my main hobby. Yeah, it's awesome. I love to just chat about it. And I'm always talking about it. So yeah.

Starting point is 00:49:52 Yeah, I agree. Maybe we'll get some new followers after this. Oh, yeah. One more time. Thank you very much, Zick. Wish you good luck. And I will stay in touch about the podcast. That's it.

Starting point is 00:50:03 Thank you very much. Thank you for listening to Produced by. Subscribe to our podcast and your favorite podcast. leave a review or send us your feedback. For more information about the host, links from the episode and ways to connect with us, visit the show notes. If you know someone who would be an ideal guest

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Produced By - #24 - Zeke Downes: Runner, Logger And Football Lover On A Journey To Become A TV Cinematographer

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